Use of Copyright Law to Strengthen Protection Against Deepfakes

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Minister for Law whether Singapore is studying Denmark’s decision to use copyright law to strengthen protection against deepfakes, by providing individuals with a legal basis to demand illegal digital imitations be removed from tech platforms.

Countries around the world have different approaches to dealing with the issue of deepfakes. Singapore similarly takes the issue seriously.

The Government recognises that deepfake technology can be misused to harass or cause other online harm to individuals. In this regard, the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Digital Development and Information will be introducing new legislation and measures to enhance online safety. These include empowering victims of online harms, including those arising from deepfakes, to obtain relief and seek accountability from those responsible for such harms.

In Singapore, the primary purpose of our copyright law is to support innovation and incentivise creativity, by granting creators a bundle of rights to control the use and dissemination of their works, rather than regulate the misuse of technology that gives rise to online harms. Beyond copyright, other aspects of our intellectual property laws may be used where deepfakes result in specific harms under those laws. These include the common law action of passing off, in cases involving misrepresentation arising from digital replicas of identifiable individual traits without consent.